


No Rest For These Tired Eyes

by in_the_bottle



Category: Batman - Fandom, Smallville
Genre: Crossover, Drama, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2005-02-01
Updated: 2005-02-01
Packaged: 2017-11-02 10:10:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 15,940
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/367828
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/in_the_bottle/pseuds/in_the_bottle
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>"Intellectually,he knew he would be happier if Clark was completely out of his life, but he still hadn't managed to asphyxiate the annoying voice that was telling him otherwise."</i>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	No Rest For These Tired Eyes

**Author's Note:**

> The main body of the story started out as a 2-day heat-induced bout of insanity. 41C, top floor apartment, no air-con, I was ready to die. At first, it was only supposed to be an angsty relationship fic, somewhere along the way, a plot wormed its way into it as well.
> 
> Title is taken from "Bed of Lies" by Matchbox Twenty. And yes, this is an AU, most definitely an AU.
> 
> Many thanks: To V for the use of her laptop when it was too hot for me to turn my desktop on without serious fire risks. Bobbie Jo and Jean for being my alpha readers and sounding board as I whine my way through this fic. I think Jean was getting daily SMS messages from me. Oops. *_^ And to Annie for managing to convinced me I shouldn't end it at page 6, and for betaing and making this much, much better than it originally was.
> 
> Dedicated to Jean for her 21st birthday. ;)

**Prologue: Lineage**

He always tried to keep his emotions in check, never showing the uncertainties he felt during board meetings, passion held firmly in control while in bed.

Emotion was weakness; a lesson learned from his father.

Sitting on the couch, surrounded by papers with his laptop in front of him, Lex's mind refused to make sense of the numbers and letters he was looking at. 

A small motion outside caught his attention, he looked up.

First snow of winter. 

_Look, Alexander, it's snowing. Beautiful, isn't it?_

Lillian Luthor had died at first snow. 

He stood up, discarded his laptop and waded his way through the sea of white paper that surrounded him. Opening the balcony doors, Lex stepped outside, thoughtless of the fact that he was in his slippers and only had a light sweater on. 

Tilting his head up, he gazed upon the night sky. Arms spread, he let the snow fall on him. 

Lex closed his eyes, not bothering to wipe away the drop of tear that escaped. 

Emotion was strength; he was his mother's son.

**Chapter 1: Duplicity**

"I never knew you'd comprehend the concept of tears, much less be capable of shedding them."

Lex didn't bother to reply, eyes focused on his city, seeing the past. 

The two most powerful men in Metropolis stood on the balcony, silent except for the flapping of Superman's cape.

Minutes passed, Lex shivered. Hugging himself against the cold, he turned and walked back into the warmth of his penthouse, completely ignoring Superman's presence. 

"Luthor."

Lex didn't stop. He shut down his laptop and started to gather his papers, piling them up on top of the computer. He took two steps in the direction of his study before finding his path blocked by an annoyed superhero.

"Your lectures on truth, justice and the American way can wait. I'm not in the mood tonight." Lex tried to sidestep the other man, but Superman would not budge. "Get out of my way."

"No."

"Get out of my way." 

"No."

"You do realize this is my house?"

"So?" The familiar tone of stubbornness stopped Lex in his tracks. 

He took a step back and looked directly into Superman's eyes. "You're still as stubborn as ever, Clark." He felt a strange sense of satisfaction at the brief look of surprise on the other man's features. 

"I don't know what you're talking about."

Lex turned and went back to the couch, sitting down unceremoniously. He was tired of the games they had been playing for the last eight years; he had been tired of it for a long time. "After everything, you can still stand there and lie to me. I'm impressed." Disappointed, saddened, wounded; all went unsaid. Lex wasn't expecting a response. "Do you really think a generous use of hair gel along with a costume picked out by the color blind could fool me?" He wasn't sure when he got back up from the couch, and why was he yelling. "If I had wanted you dead, you would've been gone years ago." 

"Then why all the attempts on my life?"

"Because I wanted the truth!"

"You – "

"And if the next words out of your mouth are, 'you can't handle the truth', so help me, God, I'll shove every single Tom Cruise DVD on this planet down your throat."

" – tried to kill me because you wanted the truth?"

"Yes." A completely un-Superman look of confusion crossed the other man's face, but it was one hundred percent Clark. "The plan was for you to tell me so I would stop trying to kill you."

"So, all these years, you were trying to get me to tell you the truth so you could stop trying to kill me?" Another hundred percent Clark Kent patented confused look. "Jesus Christ." The superhero slumped down onto the nearest chair in a decidedly un-superhero like manner. "Did it **ever** occur to you that the more you tried to kill me, the more afraid I was to tell you?" Clark asked after a moment of silence. 

Lex looked at Clark and blinked.

"I'm taking that as a no."

"Ever occur to you that I wasn't really trying to kill you?" Lex shot back. 

Clark blinked at him. 

"I'm taking that as a no." 

"Jesus Christ," Clark repeated. 

"Did you actually think that I was capable of poisoning entire cities?" he asked, genuinely wanting to know. 

"When did you figure it out?" Clark's evasion was enough of an answer for Lex. 

He let out a humorless laugh. "And I thought you were the one person who knew me better than anyone." Lex shook his head. "I knew it was you the day Superman made his grand debut." 

"That soon?" Clark sounded surprised. 

"What did you expect? Parading around with the shield of Alexander the Great on your chest sounding like Jonathan Kent."

"All these years... "

"Yeah." He could've exposed Clark Kent any time he wanted to, completely destroying the young reporter's life. 

The two men looked at each other across the coffee table. "Why did you come tonight?"

"I saw you standing outside, and since you haven't tried anything in the last few months..." Clark trailed off, shrugging. 

"You thought I must have been planning something spectacular," Lex concluded. 

"Yeah."

He chuckled and shook his head again. "No more games." Lex stood up and walked towards his room. 

"Lex."

He stopped. It had been a while since he had heard that voice say his name. 

"I'm sorry."

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He had been waiting for those two words for a long time. "Me too," he whispered. 

Too long. 

**Chapter 2: Shattered**

"Luthor's closing down Cadmus Lab."

"Good morning, Clark. Good morning, Lois, how was your weekend? Good, Clark, can I get you some coffee? Yes, thank you."

"Kent, if you think I would **ever** get you coffee, think again. Did you hear what I just said?"

Clark dumped his armful of papers onto the desk, adding to the chaos that was his cubical, before turning to face Lois. "Yeah, I heard."

"At least have the decency to act surprised," Lois grumbled.

"Frankly, after the clean-up operation he's put Luthor Corp through in the last six months, it was just a matter of time before he got to Cadmus," Clark replied with a shrug.

"What is he up to?" Lois muttered to herself, absently chewing on the cap of a pen she'd picked up from ClarkÕs desk. "The Spawn of Satan wouldn't just turn over a new leaf overnight. He must be planning something big. The shake-up of the last six months must be a diversion from his real plans."

"Lois, has it ever occurred to you that sometimes, a cigar is just a cigar?"

The female reporter turned and looked at him as though he had grown a second head. Clark had to stop himself from turning to check. 

"When it comes to the Luthors, a cigar is never just a cigar." Lois paused for a moment in thought. "The only other plausible explanation is that he's gone completely insane."

* * *

"Lex, have you gone completely **insane** ?" Even at seventy-one, Lionel Luthor was a force to be reckoned with. "Byner's one of the highest level contacts we have in City Hall!"

"Hello, Dad." Lex finally looked up from his computer when his father's fist connected with his desk. 

"What is this business with shutting down Cadmus? Less than a year since I hand the reign of LuthorCorp to you and you've managed to turn everything into a state of pandemonium."

Lex raised an eyebrow at his father. "Actually, it's more along the lines of cleaning up the mess you left behind."

"The mess **I** left behind?"

He hadn't seen his father this furious in years. _Probably means I'm doing something right._ Lex smirked at the thought, managing to infuriate his father further. "I felt that the... questionable dealings you've engaged in the past wouldn't be beneficial to my company's future."

"Need I remind you that you were fully involved in most of those 'questionable dealings'?" Lionel hissed.

"My objectives have changed since then."

He stared at his father across the desk.

"What prompted the change?" his father finally asked through clenched teeth. 

"It's nothing to concern yourself with, Dad. Enjoy your retirement, take a trip to Europe, tour the pyramids. LexCoÉ I mean LuthorCorp is in capable hands. Now, if you'll excuse me, Dad, I have a company to run."

When his father stormed out of his office with more drama than when he entered, Lex couldn't stop the small smile from appearing on his face.

* * *

"Why are you doing this?"

Lex swallowed the mouthful of water before turning to face the intruder on his balcony. "Because IÕm thirsty?" He eyed Superman, the spandex-clad superhero standing in his living room as though he belonged there.

"I mean with LuthorCorp, and the fact that you haven't tried to kill Superman for months."

"You know, referring to yourself in the third person is a sign of impending psychosis," he replied, taking another sip of water. 

"Don't change the subject!" SupermanÉ Clark was clearly getting frustrated. It reminded him of Clark's high school senior year when – Lex caught himself and stopped his of thoughts before they could go any further.

"I thought we'd established that it was never my plan to kill you." 

"That's still only half the answer."

"How I run my company is none of your business, Clark." Lex took another sip from the blue bottle in his hand, just to occupy himself with something else.

"So, shutting down one of LuthorCorp's most profitable labs is part of your brilliant business strategy?"

"Which part of 'none of your business' didn't you understand?"

"I understand it just fine. I'm just not accepting it." Clark took a step closer towards him. 

"Then that's your problem, not mine." Lex turned, intending to get himself something stronger than water. _Rocket fuel would be good._ A hand on his arm stopped him. 

"Is this because of – "

"You?" he let out a humorless laugh, turning to face the taller man. In his mind's eye, all he saw was the 15-year-old boy who saved him. "Contrary to popular belief, the world doesn't revolve around you," he snapped, immediately regretting the momentary lost of control. _Emotion is weakness, Lex._ With considerable effort, he managed to silence his father's voice in his mind. 

He looked pointedly at Clark's hand on his arm. 

  
Clark let go of him without a word. 

Making his way to the bar, Lex poured himself a generous portion of scotch. He watched the amber liquid swirl within the crystal glass, avoiding Clark's observant gaze. Picking up the glass, he swallowed half its contents in one gulp, feeling the alcohol burn its way down his throat. Lex took a moment to compose a mental note to stock his bar up with rocket fuel at the first opportunity, before finally looking at Clark.

"Why **are** you here, Clark?"

He preferred to think that his voice was hoarse due to the scotch.

* * *

"Lois thinks that you're going insane." It was the first thing that popped into Clark's head. 

"She wouldn't be the only one," Lex replied, taking a smaller sip from his glass and then topping it up again. Clark felt stupid standing in Lex's living room; he didn't belong there, not anymore. He pushed away the rising sense of guilt he was feeling; it wasn't as though Lex was completely innocent when it came to their current predicament. 

"So, are you?"

"Am I insane? No. On the contrary, IÕm just coming back to my senses."

He raised his eyebrows in question, wanting Lex to clarify, but the other man ignored him. Clark was never good with silences. Lex, on the other hand, could out silent a monk if he put his mind to it. 

"What do you mean?" he finally asked. 

"Take it however you want. I don't really care."

Another swallow and the glass was half empty again.

"You drink too much." Clark mentally slapped himself for opening his mouth without prior consultation with his brain.

Lex's eyebrows rose, as though in surprise before his lips curled to form a trademark Lexian smirk. "Why, I didn't know you cared. I'm sure my liver would thank you for that sound piece of advice." Lex lifted his glass in a salute and drained the remaining contents in one gulp.

"Lex – "

"Most people would consider it impolite to drop in unannounced."

"I'm not most people."

"I noticed."

"Lex – " He was the strongest man on Earth, how had he lost control of the conversation so quickly? Right, he was talking to Lex Luthor.

"What do you want from me?" Clark expected screaming, Lex throwing his glass at a wall or at him. He didn't know how to handle this Lex, whose energy seemed to have bled out of him in the two seconds it took to ask the question. "I don't have any diabolical plans to unleash on you or the citizens of Metropolis. I'm not trying to hurt you or those close to you. I'm not going to expose your secret to the world. Now can you leave me alone and never come back?"

"No," he answered immediately. He was not going to leave until he got the answer he came for. There was a time when he would have trusted Lex to do the right thing, but recent years had taught him otherwise. Maybe Lois was right. Maybe Lex's actions were just a diversionary tactic designed to confuse him. 

"Figures." Lex left the crystal glass on the bar before making his way back into the living room and slumping onto the couch, eyes closed. 

"LexÉ" He hadn't seen the other man in such a vulnerable position since they were both in Smallville: a sight that was both familiar and alien at the same time. Clark had no idea what to make of it. 

"What?"

"Why?" 

"Why what?"

"You know what." Why had he stopped trying to kill Superman? Why was he cleaning up his operations? It couldn't be as simple as Lex made it sound. It wasn't possible, was it? These questions had been running through his head ever since he landed on Lex's balcony months ago. 

"I got tired of it." Could his answers be more cryptic? Oh, right, he was Lex Luthor, future Shaolin monk. He's even got the baldness to go with it, Clark thought spitefully.

"Of what?"

"Everything. You were never going to tell me. I was a fool to think that you ever would."

Oh.

"Finally came to my senses and figured it was time to stop obsessing and get on with my life. Does that answer your question?" Lex opened his eyes and peered at him. Clark felt like the world's biggest idiot, standing there looking at Lex, his confidence stripped away by Lex's uncharacteristic honesty. 

"Yes." _A cigar is never just a cigar,_ Lois's voice sounded in his mind. 

"Good. Close the balcony doors when you leave, it's getting cold in here." Lex leaned his head back on the couch and closed his eyes again. Wasn't Tsun-Zhi the one who said 'every once in a while, declare peace. It confuses the hell out of your enemies'? Or was that Star Trek? Clark couldn't remember. Was this one of Lex's games? They had been playing it for so long that Clark didn't even know if it was possible for Lex to stop. Neither Superman nor Clark was going to get any more out of Lex, and Clark didn't know what else he could say.

He closed the doors before taking off from the balcony.

**Chapter 3: Asylum**

**_The Inquisitor_ **

_LEX LUTHOR: REDEEMED SON OR POD PERSON?_

_February 5, 2014_

_By Corrinne Grant_

**_METROPOLIS_ ** _The closing of Cadmus Labs, one of LuthorCorp's most profitable laboratories have left many questioning the actions, if not the state of mind of LuthorCorp's CEO Alexander 'Lex' Luthor, 32. Merely months after taking over the company from his father, Lionel Luthor, 71, the younger Luthor initiated a series of actions that has come to be known as 'Spring Cleaning' among some in the business community, clearing up and shutting down some of the more morally ambiguous operations LuthorCorp has been engaged in. Luthor's previous animosity towards Superman also seemed to have withered._

_"Some of us have been wondering if Lex's been replaced by a Pod person," Michael Hicks, Vice-President of Cooks International Pty. Ltd. commented on the uncharacteristic actions of the younger Luthor, better known for his unscrupulous business ethics and cut-throat strategies in corporate management. However, there are those who disagree with Hicks' view of the situation, preferring to think that Lex Luthor has indeed changed for the better. "He has finally broken free from his father's control," Bruce Wayne, CEO of Wayne Industries said. "Lex is running LuthorCorp the way he has always wanted to, not how his father has been doing for the last 40 years." Wayne continued before concluding that, "Metropolis is lucky to have Lex."_

_Lex Luthor and Superman were both unavailable for comments._

_Pod person or redeemed son of Metropolis? The question remains to be answered. Perhaps, only time will tell._

Lex folded the newspaper with a chuckle, reminding himself to thank Bruce the next time they saw each other. 

Briefly, he wondered why Superman hadn't been available for comment. Unlike Clark, the Superhero seemed to thrive on the limelight, never passing up an opportunity to inform the world of his opinions and ideologies. What was the difference this time? 

Resolutely, he pushed the thought of Superman and Clark out of his mind. After eight years of contention, it had become a habit for him to try to second-guess Superman's intents. There was no need for it now; and if it was up to him, he could happily live the rest of his life without seeing the alien, in either disguise, again. 

_Liar._

The billionaire felt an urge to throttle the voice at the back of his mind. 

* * *

"Spill." Clark, startled by his partner's voice, almost jumped off the terrace. Turning around, he was surprised to find Lois standing right next to him. 

_Some superhero you are. Didn't even notice Lois sneaking up on you._ Out loud, he said "What?"

"You've been avoiding me all night, and now I find you sulking on the balcony."

"I haven't been avoiding you," he replied truthfully. "And it's a terrace, not a balcony. It's too big to be a balcony." He suddenly noticed how different Lois looked, wearing a red evening gown instead of her regular working suits. But even the dress couldn't hide the determination she exuded when faced with a puzzle to solve. Determination that was now directed at him. Clark muttered a mental _Uh-oh_ before putting on his best, 'I'm-just-an-innocent-farm-boy-from-middle-of-nowhere-Smallville' look, praying to whichever deity who happened to lookout for alien journalists and superheroes. 

Lois narrowed her eyes at him and the _Uh-oh_ in his head got louder. "Fine, if you're not avoiding me, you're avoiding someone else."

"I'm not avoiding anyone!" he protested. 

"Kent." The warning in her voice was clear. "I'm giving you a chance, **one** chance to come clean with me. You're avoiding someone, and I know it."

"How could you possibly tell?"

"Journalists' intuition **and** women's intuition. When both of them are telling me the same thing, I don't ignore them."

"I just needed some air, Lois. Not avoiding you or anyone else, honest!" Clark exclaimed.

Did Lois just growl at him? 

He was in deeper shit than he thought. 

"I'd be happy to, Mrs. Jenkins." The familiar voice of Lex Luthor drifting over from the terrace doors served as a momentary distraction to Lois. Unable to help himself, Clark looked up to see Lex shaking hands with an elderly woman, a smile on his face. He took a step back, trying to avoid being seen by his once best friend. 

His movement alerted his partner, who turned to look at him, brows drawn in thought before her eyes widened in realization. "You're avoiding **Lex Luthor** ?"

"Shh!" he hissed at Lois, but it was too late. Hearing his name, Lex turned, and their eyes met across the terrace. Clark thought he saw a hint of something akin to sorrow in the other man's eyes, but when he looked again, Lex's game face, the one that was all too familiar to Superman, was firmly back in place. Wearing his patented smirk, the billionaire raised his champagne glass in a toast, reminiscent of his toast to Superman given weeks ago in Lex's own living room, before moving back into the crowded ballroom. 

"Clark Jerome Kent."

He really shouldn't have introduced Lois to his mother. This time round, his mental _Uh-oh_ sounded a lot like a panicky, girly squeak. 

* * *

He shouldn't have come. He had known Clark was one of the few members of the press who had been invited to the gala. There was a board meeting first thing Monday morning that he had to prepare for, so he even had a valid excuse to not turn up. Yet here he was, mingling with a roomful of people, most of whom he didn't even like. 

Not counting the last two times when Superman turned up in his penthouse unannounced, Lex hadn't spoken to the younger man in eight years. At least not without threats of death and destruction. He had always avoided confronting Clark as a journalist, and Lois Lane had made it easier by taking over the rare interviews he allowed the Daily Planet. 

Intellectually, he knew he would be happier if Clark was completely out of his life, but he still hadn't managed to asphyxiate the annoying voice that was telling him otherwise. 

Lex had long since come to grips with his feelings for Clark. He hadn't said anything back in Smallville because Clark was too young then. Later, when he had connected the dots between Clark Kent and Superman, he had been furious at the betrayal. In light of that, he had formulated a plan, managing to channel his anger and hostility towards the younger man into a force even Superman hadn't been able to stop, trying to drive Clark into despair and forcing the truth out of him. 

That plan backfired spectacularly. 

_"Did it_ ever _occur to you that the more you tried to kill me, the more afraid I was to tell you?"_ Clark's voice from months before echoed through his mind. 

_Some genius you are._ Lex was tempted to tell his mental voice where it could shove it, but with his state of mind already in doubt by most of the people in the room, the sight of him talking to himself would not be good. No doubt it would send the LuthorCorp board of directors into a frenzy, and give his father a chance to try to gain control of both him and the company. It was a battle he did not want to fight. 

He stopped a waiter and swapped his almost empty flute of champagne with a glass of cognac, resisting the urge to drain the glass in a single gulp. It wouldn't do his image any good. Smiling and nodding to the people he passed, Lex made his way towards the back of the ballroom where the bar was located. 

_Screw image._ He knocked back the drink in his hand and ordered a triple shot of scotch, mentally cursing Clark. 

"You looked like you've seen a ghost." The voice of Bruce Wayne right beside him almost caught Lex off guard. 

"I think I'd handle seeing dead people better than this," Lex replied, accepting the glass from the bartender before turning to face his friend. "I thought you had a plane to catch?"

"It's my plane. It leaves whenever I tell it to." Lex chuckled at the reply, taking a sip of the scotch in his hand. "Besides, if I hadn't stayed back, I would have missed the sight of an unnerved Luthor," Bruce added with a small grin.

"You just love seeing me suffer, don't you?" Lex asked, moving towards a less crowded part of the ballroom. Bruce followed closely. 

He let Bruce out to the north terrace, as far away from Clark as socially possible. The crisp night air calmed Lex more than he cared to admit. From the 42nd floor, they had a clear view of Metropolis, and they admired the view in silence, Lex absently sipping his drink.

"He's here," Lex finally said, breaking the silence.

"You knew he would be."

There was nothing Lex could say to that, so he didn't bother replying. 

"What's your plan?"

"Plan? You knew how it turned out the last time I had a plan. Nothing ever goes according to plan when it comes to him. He **defies** plans," he snorted. "I'm just going to forget about him and get on with my life."

"And I can see how well that's working out for you." The music from the ballroom washed over them as silence once again descended on the pair. "I know you, Lex," Bruce continued. "You don't love easily, but once you do, it lasts a lifetime."

"Since when were you the expert on love? Or any form of emotion for that matter?"

Bruce grinned wryly. "Since I met someone with the ability to annoy me like no one else can."

"'O that this too too solid flesh would melt, thaw, and resolve itself into a dew,'" Lex quoted with a grin. "Send Dick my congratulations for having achieved the impossible." The music changed from a waltz to something with a Latino beat. "I hate him," Lex added, finishing what remained of his scotch. "I trusted him." 

"Don't tell me you haven't kept things from him," Bruce retorted.

"It's not the same." None of the secrets he had kept from Clark had any bearing on their friendship. None of them were personal. "You told me." 

"Only because you were nosy enough to find the cave."

Lex shook his head; Bruce didn't understand. "You told me when I found out. You **never** lied to me or denied any of it. But him, even after I saw things with my own eyes, he'd turn around and make up some story. Tell me I must have been mistaken. That's the difference between you and him, Bruce."

"Yet, you're still in love with him." 

"And I hate him," Lex repeated, not bothering to deny what his friend had said.

"You shouldn't." Bruce was shaking his head. "Hate is never good. The only thing it'll do is eat away at you like a cancer. In the end, all that's left is a husk of flesh, void of all humanity, blackened to the core. You'd die on the inside and take the world with you, Lex." 

"Dark and morbid, now that's the Bruce Wayne I remember," he chuckled almost bitterly before becoming serious again. 

"You love him," Bruce repeated, sounding a lot like the mental voice he had been trying to strangle. He momentarily entertained the thought of trying to strangle Bruce instead before dismissing the idea as suicidal. 

"'Is love a tender thing? It is too rough, too rude, too boisterous; and it pricks like a thorn.'" 

"Love and hate, two sides of the same coin, yet completely different. Love may prick, but it also nourishes. Hate would bleed you dry of any life you may have. That's also the second time you've quoted Shakespeare. You've definitely had too much to drink, Lex."

"Either that, or I haven't drunk enough yet." He paused, thinking over Bruce's words. "You really think I'm capable of that? Destroying the world?" But even as he asked the question, Lex already knew the answer. 

"With enough hate, it wouldn't be you anymore." 

Lex nodded. It terrified him how clearly he could picture it happening; how easy it would be to let his control slip, letting the darkness in him take over. No guilt, no conscience, no pesky little voice at the back of his mind. He would be worse than his father. 

"On the bright side – " Bruce added as though an afterthought.

"There's a bright side?" 

" – you'd be living up to your reputation of being Satan's Spawn."

Lex laughed.

**Chapter 4: Obscura**

"Drop it, Lois," Clark repeated for the third time, knowing there was no way in hell Lois Lane would drop the topic. _Can't blame a guy for trying._

The two reporters were alone on the terrace; the growing chill of the evening had driven the other guests back into the warmth of the ballroom. Too bad Lois wasn't behaving like any normal, sane human being. 

"Not until you've told me everything there is to know. And don't you even dare lie to me, 'cause I **will** find out, and you **will** regret it." Lois pulled her shoulder wrap higher in an attempt to drive away the cold, not once taking her eyes off Clark. 

Grabbing hold of Lois' right arm, Clark gently pulled her towards the door. "Let's get you inside before you get pneumonia."

"You aren't distracting me that easily, Kent." 

"Don't I know it," Clark muttered under his breath, but there was nothing preventing him from delaying it as long as possible. 

He scanned the room the moment they were inside, breathing out a sigh of relief when he discovered Lex was nowhere in sight. 

"Let's get out of here and – "

"What?" He didn't want to leave. He wasn't **ready** to leave. 

" – find a nice and quiet place where you can spill your guts," Lois finished, tugging at Clark's arm, pulling him towards the exit. He dragged his feet. 

"Are you sure? I mean, did you get enough – " To be completely honest, he was ready to leave even before he arrived. But if leaving meant answering Lois' questions, he'd changed his mind. As a matter of fact, he was going to look into whether he could stay indefinitely.

"Yes, I'm sure," Lois interrupted before he could finish. "I've spent the entire night **working** my way through the Metropolis A-list while you were sulking and avoiding Luthor."

The protest was automatic "I wasn't sulking." Lois didn't bother to respond, instead she concentrated on physically dragging Clark out of the ballroom. Despite his reluctance to see Lex again, Clark thought it would be preferable to being interrogated by his partner. At least with Lex, they could either ignore each other or work out their aggression by trying to kill each other.

* * *

"I'm going to say this one last time: spill." Lois spoke the moment their waitress left with their order. They were sitting in a booth at the back of a small diner two blocks away from the hotel, affording them some privacy. 

"There's nothing to spill," Clark insisted. 

"I didn't even realize you knew him." 

"Who doesn't?" Lex really was kind of hard to miss. 

"I didn't even realize he knew you," Lois rephrased without missing a beat. 

"Anyone who reads the Planet knows me." 

"That doesn't explain why you were avoiding him the entire time we were there." Sometimes, having someone as smart as Lois for a partner really sucked. She had a tendency to cut through the bullshit and jump to the right conclusion. Clark briefly wondered why he had the desire to surround himself with people who never could leave a secret alone. Chloe, Lex, and now Lois. Maybe he was a closet masochist, or maybe his subconscious wanted them to find out. 

"What did he do to you?" Lois continued. "I knew he was trying to cover something big with his sudden change in temperament! He's blackmailing you, isn't he? He knew about your relationship with Superman and is using you to get to Superman. Why didn't you tell me?" 

"Because there's nothing to tell!" On the other hand, Lois' ability to get ahead of herself occasionally came in handy. 

"Whatever he has on you couldn't be **that** bad." Actually, what Lex had on him could ruin his **and** Superman's life, not to mention his parents', but Lois really didn't need to know that. "He's not threatening your parents, is he?"

"No."

"You know, usually you're the first to come up with ideas to foil whatever Luthor's planning. Why are you covering for him?"

"I'm not covering anything, and – " Clark stopped talking when their waitress came back with their coffee. "And there's nothing to tell," he continued the moment the waitress left, pouring enough sugar into his coffee to send a normal human into diabetic shock. 

"Oh my God! He's gotten to you!" 

"What are you talking about?" He frowned in genuine confusion at his partner. 

"All the do-gooder things he's been doing, you believe he's changed." 

"Lois – " Did he believe that Lex had changed? No. Yes. Maybe. He wasn't sure what to believe anymore. Not when it came to Lex. 

Almost immediately after they'd found out what Lex had been doing with LuthorCorp, he and Lois had tried to uncover what the billionaire was up to. Unlike their previous investigations, the months of work had turned up nothing. Lois was convinced Lex had just gotten better at hiding the evidence throughout the years, but with the shutting down of Cadmus, the most productive lab under LuthorCorp's control when it came to inventing weapons against Superman, Clark had begun to question their theory.

"I don't believe it!" Lois was staring at him in horror. "How could you?" she accused. 

"Lois," he tried again. "I don't know if I believe he's changed, but you have to admit, we haven't found any evidence that suggests otherwise." 

"That doesn't mean a thing!" Lois took a sip of her coffee before putting the cup down again. "After what he's done, how could you even think... Gah!" She threw her hands up in frustration. After what Lex had done in the last eight years... Various attempts on Superman's life, secret plans to clone an army of Kryptonite enhanced soldiers, not to mention countless threats of annihilation. It wasn't as though Lex had been completely honest with him. Clark had to wonder, was he really to blame for Lex's actions? Lex seemed to think so. 

Would things be different if he had told Lex? After all, Lex had kept his secret despite the animosity between them. Hindsight was such a wonderful device. Clark let out a humorless laugh at the thought, earning him another glare from his partner. 

"Fine." Lois crossed her arms, the grin appearing on her face rivaling Lex's smirk. "Even if you think he might've changed, it still doesn't explain why you were avoiding him at the gala."

Clark groaned and let his head fall with a thump onto the tabletop.

* * *

Other than three attempted muggings around Metropolis and an old lady almost falling down her apartment stairs due to a flimsy cane, the night had been surprisingly quiet for Superman. There weren't any typhoons in Taiwan or bushfires in Australia; it seemed that Mother Nature was giving Superman a break, too. Good for Superman, but it didn't bode well for Clark Kent. 

A quiet night for Superman meant Clark Kent would have time on his hands, and that meant thinking about things he didn't want to think about. Lois' fascination with Superman even though she considered Clark Kent nothing but a pain in the butt, his parents' less than subtle hints about grandchildren, andÉ Lex. 

Somehow, his thoughts these days always ended up with Lex. 

Clark let out a sigh and stared out of his apartment window. The sound of occasional passing cars, and half-drunk college students stumbling out of the bar down the street, merely became background noise to him. 

Did he really believe that Lex had changed? 

After the way Lex had been restructuring LuthorCorp and the two encounters in the other man's living room.... The first time he saw Lex on the balcony mere weeks after Lionel's retirement, tears on his face; the way Lex sounded that night two weeks ago, as though completely worn out; displays of weakness. The Lex Luthor they had been dealing with over the last eight years would have never done that, would never expose his vulnerability in front of his worse enemy. 

_The last eight years._

But was it something the Lex Luthor who was Clark's best friend would've done? After all, Lionel's clone wouldn't have kept Superman's secret identity for so long without somehow using it against him or his parents. 

Maybe the possibility wasn't as farfetched as he had first thought. Yet, Clark couldn't help hearing his father's, and Lois's voices at the back of his mind, chiding him for his naivete. 

**Chapter 5: Exodus**

**_The Daily Planet_ **

_EXPLOSION ROCKS LUTHORCORP TOWER I_

_Lex Luthor: Dead or Alive?_

_Monday March 10, 2014_

_Lois Lane_

**_METROPOLIS_ ** _Early this morning, the city was awakened at 3:32am when an explosion occurred at Tower I of the LuthorCorp building. The blast, which is believed to have originated from LuthorCorp's CEO, Lex Luthor's penthouse on the highest two levels of the building, had managed to completely destroy the penthouse along with the six floors beneath it. It was hours before the fire department and State Emergency Services managed to put out the blaze, which could be seen more than ten miles away from the CBD._

_The fate of Lex Luthor remains a mystery. The high profile businessman was last seen entering his penthouse at approximately 10:40 P.M. yesterday night and has not been heard from since._

_Lionel Luthor, former CEO of LuthorCorp and father of Lex Luthor, is due to arrive back from Germany late this morning. The senior Luthor had been visiting a friend in Berlin when news of the explosion reached him. Confronted by the German press regarding the apparent death of his son, Lionel Luthor's only comment was, "My son is not dead."_

_However, when asked about the chances of someone surviving the blast, authorities remained skeptical. "You have to understand that was a blast powerful enough to blow off the top the building, literally," Fire Chief Mark Spence, who was in charge of operation, commented. "And the force of it was strong enough to collapse the six floors beneath it. If you look, there's nothing left of the top two floors and what remains of the six levels beneath it has all collapsed onto itself. It's a miracle that the building is still standing! Superman is probably the only person who could've survived something like this."_

_Along with the younger Luthor, two LuthorCorp security guards, Philip Wise, 35, and John Lea, 37, have also been confirmed missing. The building has been declared unstable by the fire department. Neither the cause of the explosion nor the amount of damage it has done is known, and authorities are not ruling out any possibilities at the moment._

                                                                                                     _Continued on page 3_

Clark had been starring at the front page of the Daily Planet and Lois' article for at least thirty minutes; his mind refused to believe what he was reading even though he had, as Superman, been to the site. 

Lex couldn't be dead. The concept of Lex being dead simply wasn't logical. Lex was too determined and too... too _Lex_ to be dead. But Superman, returning from an earthquake disaster in the Middle East, had x-rayed what was left of the penthouse until he got dizzy, and there hadn't been any sign of life in it. At first, he was relieved that he hadn't found the billionaire's body, but after speaking to Mark Spence, his relief had turned swiftly into denial. 

_"If he'd been in the penthouse when it exploded, there wouldn't be anything left to find. The fire was so hot that any biological organism in it would simply disintegrate."_ Was it only three hours ago that Spence had said that? 

"You've been staring at that for more than half an hour." His partner's voice roused him from his stupor. Clark looked up from the paper in his hands to see Lois perched on the edge of his desk. "Can't say I'm surprised. His past was bound to catch up with him sooner or later." Lois shrugged casually. 

The anger he felt at Lois' nonchalance took him by surprise and he fought to control it. "You think he's... dead?" he managed to choke out. 

"He went in at 10:40, no one saw him come out, no one has heard from him since the explosion. Logic would suggest so."

Clark turned his attention back to the picture of the burning building on the front page. His eyes kept drifting back to the headline 'Dead or Alive?'

_Lex is not dead._ Sometime between now and then, it had become a mantra. 

"What?" Clark looked up again, puzzled by Lois' wide-eyed look.

"What?" he parroted. 

"You called him Lex." He blinked her. "You always called him Luthor." 

He finally realized he must have spoken his thoughts out loud. 

"It doesn't matter what I call him, he's not dead," Clark declared, shoving the newspaper onto his desk before getting up. He had moped enough for one day; it was time for action. 

"Where are you going?" Lois hopped down from his desk and started following him. 

"To find out what happened." 

* * *

The only thing that had changed at the scene was the people; the day shift crew had taken over from their night shift colleagues. The site had been fenced off from the general public and the media for safety reasons, and traffic was redirected. None of it was a problem for Superman.

Being used to the superhero's presence, most of the work crew didn't even look up when Superman appeared. Hovering above the 70-story building, he gently sifted through the rubble that the authorities had trouble getting to, working as fast as he could and trying not to increase the strain on the building structure as he did so. 

Superman was gone an hour later, but no one saw him leaving with a small, half-melted safe and the charred remains of what could have been a bomb. 

* * *

"What did you find?" Clark nearly jumped out of his skin when a voice greeted him from his darkened apartment. 

"Jesus Christ! How the hell did you get in? Never mind, I don't think I want to know." His X-ray vision made out the figure of Batman standing against the wall opposite. Clark noticed one of his windows was open. 

Closing the door, Clark switched on the lights and dumped his keys on the dining table. "I haven't had a chance to look at them yet, Lois was on my tail all day. Have you heard from him?"

"No. Was I supposed to?" 

"He's resourceful," Clark insisted, walking into the kitchen. He opened the cupboard next to the sink and took out the bag he had hidden there earlier. 

"I've been to the site. No one could've survived the blast." Batman's tone was devoid of any emotion. 

"He's not dead," he snapped, slamming the bag onto the counter and cracking the stone surface. 

If Batman was surprised at his reaction, the other superhero didn't show it. "For your sake, I hope you haven't damaged whatever's in that bag."

Clark glared at Batman, wishing he could somehow set the man on fire and get away with it. "The safe's lined with lead, I can't see through it. There are a few pieces of what I think are the remains of the bomb, but I haven't looked at it in detail yet." 

The masked hero had moved to stand across the counter from Clark. "Can you open the safe?" 

Pulling the chunk of half-melted metal out of the bag, Clark ripped its door apart, the screech of straining metal almost deafening in the otherwise silent apartment. A pile of CDs and a few letter-sized white envelopes fell out, all of them in surprisingly pristine condition. Clark couldn't help wondering what went into the construction of the safe. 

Picking up a random disc, he looked at the cover. "Simon and Garfunkel?" He starred at the CD in disbelief. Batman was ignoring him and shifting through the various envelopes, pausing when he saw one addressed to Bruce Wayne. 

"Aren't you going to open it?" 

"No." The other man picked up the envelope, and before Clark realized what was going on, Batman had hidden it somewhere beneath his cape. Scanning through the other envelopes, Clark was strangely disappointed when he didn't find one addressed to him. _What did you expect?_

Seemingly satisfied with what he'd seen, Batman began shoving the contents of the safe back into the bag. "Have the Fortress analyze the fragments and let me know what you find." 

"Wouldn't it be faster for the A.I. to go through the discs?" 

"Your A.I. doesn't know Lex like I do." Batman grabbed the bag and was moving towards the window. Clark super-speeded and blocked the other man's way. 

"You'll inform me of your findings."

Batman simply nodded. It was enough of a promise for Clark; he moved aside to let the other man to pass. "He's not dead," Clark repeated, not entirely sure why he was trying to convinced the other man of it. 

The black-clad figure paused at his words, and then turned back to face Clark. "He was in love with you," he said simply before disappearing from view. 

Clark was too shocked to do anything but stare.

* * *

"Earth to Kent." 

Clark was startled by the piece of eraser that hit him right in the middle of his forehead. It missed his glasses by mere centimeters, then bounced off and landed on his keyboard. 

"Ow." Even though it didn't hurt, he rubbed at the point of impact; after years of conditioning, it was an autonomic reaction. 

"You've been spaced out the entire morning, found something about the explosion?" 

"Yeah, sort of. Superman said it was a bomb." 

"And just when were you planning on telling me?"

"Uh.... " Clark wished he had more space to retreat. "I just did?" 

"Try again, Kent." Lois glowered at him. 

"Sorry?" 

"Better." Wheeling her chair over, Lois sat down beside him. "So, what's been eating at you all morning? If it was Superman's news, you'd have told me about it and we'd be working on it."

"It's nothing. Just something a friend told me." 

"Go on." 

"It's nothing really." Just Lex Luthor being in love with him. Nothing earth shattering at all, not like finding out that The Lex Luthor was in love with Superman. 

"You wouldn't be brooding if it was nothing." When it came to personal matters, it really sucked to have to work with someone as observant as Lois. Nothing escaped her attention. 

"I wasn't brooding, just thinking."

"And what have you come up with?" 

"Nothing much I'm afraid." He was still struggling to come to terms with what Batman told him. _"He was in love with you."_ Batman's words had been the only thing going through his mind since last night. He was sure that if he thought about it enough, he'd finally get it. 

That wasn't working. 

Lex, in love with him. It wasn't possible; the man hated him. It simply wasn't possible that Lex was in love with him. Was it? 

On the other hand, it wasn't something either Batman or Bruce Wayne would make up, and he was convinced Lex was dead anyway, so why even bother telling Clark? Batman was not known for his sentimentality, or any other feelings for that matter. 

"Lois, if someone tells you something only after it's too late for you to do anything, what's their motive?"

"Did they know about it before?" 

"Yes."

"Well," Lois said, her brows drawn together as she thought. "If their intentions were good, they would've told you about it before it was too late. If they had a reason for not saying it before, they probably wouldn't have said anything after either... unless they wanted you to regret missed opportunities. Depending on how big the thing is, it could haunt some people for the rest of their lives." Lois shrugged. "Is that what you've been thinking about?"

"Sort of." 

"Not much of a friend, if that's what's going on."

Not to Clark, no, but a good friend to Lex, which was more than Clark could claim to be when it came to the bald billionaire.

If Lex had loved him – he didn't want to go down that road. 

_"You can't save everyone, son."_ His parents' words, drilled into his psyche since high school. 

What if he could've saved Lex in the first place? 

**Chapter 6: Exile**

No one paid attention to the man on the street, wearing blue denim jeans with a dark blue sweater at least two size too big. Strands of dark hair could be seen peeking out beneath a well-worn black beanie with a Metallica logo on the front. Walking with a slouch, eyes focused on the ground below; he was just one of the many unfortunate youths in the city who had taken to the streets.

Half an hour later, the man was knocking on the door of the gothic looking mansion just outside of the city limits, the lack of security at the front gate surprising him. 

The door opened soundlessly seconds later, revealing an elderly man. "Can I help you?" he inquired with a cultured, British accent, rightfully suspicious. 

Finally looking up from the ground, the man greeted the elder man with a half smile. "Hello, Alfred." His elegant voice was at odds with his appearance. 

Eyes widening in surprise and recognition, Alfred quickly pulled the man into the mansion and closed the door behind them. "Master Lex! We thought you were killed!"

Lex straightened his posture and pulled off the beanie and the wig underneath it, running a hand over his bare scalp. "Rumors of my demise have been greatly exaggerated."

* * *

Lex was taken completely by surprise when he felt the arms of Bruce Wayne around him. The hug was short, but no less out of character for the other man.

"Did the Riddler finally manage to scramble your brain?" he asked, amused and touched by his friend's reaction. 

"I thought you were dead," was the reply before Bruce was back to his normal self. The two friends sat across each other in Bruce's sitting room, Bruce straightening his suit as he did so. 

"That was the point."

"How – "

"Luck. Pure luck." Lex still had trouble believing it. "You know my struggles with insomnia. Just an hour before it happened, I got tired of staring at the ceiling and went down to the labs. Figured I could tinker with the particle ionizer that LuthorCorp has been working on. The building shook even ten floors below ground. I got out of the lab, saw what happened, figured someone was trying to kill me, got myself some disguise, and headed over here," he summarized. "If I had been in bed, there wouldn't be anything left to find." 

"I know. I was there, ten hours later. No one recognized you?" 

"It would be all over the news now if they had." Lex let out a sigh, slumping further down on the leather couch. "I wasn't exactly dressed like a Luthor when my life went 'boom'."

"The security cameras?" 

He shook his head. "I took the private elevator down, no cameras there. Besides, they moved the security mainframe up to the 64th floor a couple of weeks ago due to building maintenance. If the reports I've heard are accurate, I doubt they could salvage any of it."

"Do you know who might be responsible for this?" Bruce asked, looking at him with a seriousness that Lex knew all too well. He pitied the next villain who crossed Batman.

"With the number of people I've pissed off in the last few months, and the fact that the security tapes are probably gone, your guess is as good as mine. You can rule out my father though, he wouldn't blow up a building with his name on it." Lex closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. He could feel a migraine coming. The last few days had been one long nightmare, and it wasn't likely to end until they found out who was behind the bombing. 

"When was the last time you slept?" 

Lex snorted. "Sleep? Don't think I remember how to do that." 

"I'll have Alfred prepare your room."

"Don't bother. I can sleep when we find out who's trying to kill me. What have you got so far?" Lex stood up and started pacing.

"Superman is still analyzing the bomb fragments for more clues – "

"Superman?" He stopped and turned to look at his friend. 

"He was the one who found your safe and the fragments." Lex wasn't sure how he felt about Superman standing on his side. When all he did was started pacing again, Bruce continued. "I've gone through the stack of discs in your safe and came up with a list of suspects. Now that you've eliminated your father from the list, we have forty eight names to work through."

"Huh. I thought I'd pissed off more people than that," Lex muttered, looking at the wall of books in front of him before turning around to walk back towards the couch again.

"You have. Those are the only ones with the means to stage such an elaborate assassination attempt." 

"I see," he replied, stopping halfway between the wall and couch, his mind racing through possibilities and probabilities. "Is Davis on the list?"

"Yes."

"Strike him out. He's too much of an idiot to come up with anything that involves circumventing my security system. Langley is out too, not his M.O. He hates bombs; says they're too messy. Have to say I agree with him. Yamamoto's out, he's too honorable to try something this underhanded. He's more likely to challenge me openly than try to kill me in my sleep." Lex took a deep breath and looked up, only to find Bruce starring at him. "What?"

"Know thy enemy?" Bruce raised an eyebrow at his direction. 

"As if you haven't been keeping profiles on your opponents," Lex countered. "That brings us down to what? Forty five?" 

The other man merely nodded. 

"Perry's out too, we came to an understanding last week and he's a man of his word, so that's forty four." Lex walked back to the couch and sat down again, running a hand over his scalp. 

"Five names in less than two minutes. I'm impressed." 

"As if I've been thinking about anything else in the last few days," Lex retorted. He was startled when a yawn threatened to split his face. "Who else is on the list?" His brain seemed to have decided now that he was out of immediate danger, it was time to close shop for the night. He shook his head in an attempt to clear the fog that was slowly taking up residence in his mind. 

"I'll let you look at it after you've got some rest."

"I'm fine," Lex insisted. He didn't need sleep, what he needed were answers, sleeping would just be a waste of time. The longer they waited the lower the chances of finding out who was behind the assassination attempt. 

"It's past midnight and you look ready to collapse. I really would prefer not to repeat the 2008 incident."

It took him a few moments before he remembered what Bruce was talking about. Lex couldn't help chuckling at the memory. It was the year after he found out about Batman. Lex had stayed back after Bruce's birthday party, taking the opportunity to catch up with his friend. Sometime after the scotch and rum, Lex had gotten his hands on a bottle of tequila. The only thing he remembered after that was telling the other billionaire how much of a bastard Clark was. He'd woken up the next morning to discover he'd passed out halfway through the bottle of tequila, and Bruce had to carry him up to the guest room. 

"Fine," Lex relented, letting out a sigh. "You wake me up the second anything new comes up." 

"You have my word."

**Chapter 7: Obsession**

He changed into his street clothing the moment he arrived at the Fortress, the Superman costume too heavy with bad memories. 

"Greetings, Kal-El," the A.I. greeted him. "There is a message from Batman awaiting you."

"Put it on my personal screen," Clark commanded, sitting down on a stool in front of a large control area, his heart rate quickening in anticipation. 

"As you wish." 

The small screen on the control panel in front of him lit up, the entire message consisted of the word 'Suspects' followed by a list of forty-four names. Not a word about Lex; Clark's shoulders slumped in disappointment. 

"Has the analysis of the fragments been completed?"

"Yes."

"Send a copy of the results to Batman."

"Acknowledged. Do you wish to study the results?" 

"Later. I need some time to think right now. Inform me if there's anything from Batman." 

"As you wish, Kal-El." 

Clark stood up, exiting the control room and made his way to his room at the Fortress. 

The door, like all the other doors in the Fortress, opened automatically as he approached. 

Walking across the room, he flopped unceremoniously onto his bed, staring up at the stars and constellations on the ceiling. When the place was first designed, he had instructed the A.I. to include a holographic projection of the stars into the room, inspired from the magically enhanced ceiling in the Great Hall of Hogwarts that he had read about and later seen in the movies. 

_"No."_

_"But Leeex! I really, really, really want to watch it!" Clark whined._

_"No. I am_ not _going to watch Harry Potter with you," Lex had declared, determined._

_"But Lex, it's got great special effects and a good story, and magic!"_

_"It's also targeted towards eight year olds. I will not be caught in a theater filled with screaming kids. And if the press ever caught wind of this, I'd never live it down. I can see the headlines already. 'Luthor Takes On Voldermort'."_

_"You know about Voldermort?" To say that Clark was surprised would be an understatement._

_"Just because I object to a particular subject doesn't mean I don't know anything about it."_

_"Oh," Clark replied, pausing to think about what Lex had just said before deciding that it wasn't important enough to warrant his attention at that moment. "But Lex," he continued whining, "it's_ Harry Potter!! _Please?" He gave the twenty-one year old his best pleading look. "I **really**_ _want to watch it."_

_"Don't give me that look, it won't work."_

It did work. Clark smiled at the memory. It took another five minutes of begging, but he had finally gotten Lex to watch The Chamber of Secrets with him. Of course, the other man had protested throughout the entire movie, pointing out the smallest mistakes that no one but Lex would've noticed, but he'd gone with him. The press never caught Lex and Lex was the one who bought the tickets to the sequels. 

As the years passed, Lex continued to ask questions and Clark continued to evade them as best he could. He had felt guilty for not trusting Lex, for letting his secret ruin their friendship. But when Lex started to launch attack after attack against Superman, Clark was convinced his father had been right about Lex, and that he had been right not to tell Lex about his powers. The billionaire had called him a few times during the first year Superman appeared, but Clark had always found some excuse to not return his calls or to cut their conversation short. Eventually, Lex stopped calling, and if his plans were indicative of his state of mind, his hostility against Superman flared. 

Clark let out a sigh and gazed at the stars above him. So, what if Lex had been in love with him as Batman had claimed? It was impossible to erase what had happened between them over the years. Even if Lex's antagonism toward Superman had diminished recently, it didn't mean he didn't still resent Clark. It simply meant that after taking over LuthorCorp, he no longer had time for Superman. 

It finally occurred to Clark that it didn't matter what Lex's motives were, the billionaire was still missing, and Superman was going to find him. 

It was his duty. 

* * *

It was barely seven in the morning when Lex was startled awake. He looked around the room. Other than the curtains, it had remained largely unchanged since his last stay almost two years ago. He rubbed his face with both palms and made his way to the ensuite. 

Looking at himself in the mirror, Lex almost had trouble recognizing himself. His skin appeared pale and almost clammy, emphasizing the dark circles under his eyes. If this was how he looked after seven hours of sleep... No wonder Bruce had insisted that he rest. 

Lex looked down at his clothes in disgust. Quickly stripping out of the sweater and jeans, he jumped into the shower, luxuriating in the hot water that was washing away days worth of dirt and grime. Who knew pretending to be dead was such a dirty business? 

He didn't know how long he spent in the shower, but when he got out of the bathroom, he found a pair of black slacks and a dark blue polo shirt carefully laid out on the bed. 

Ten minutes later, he was in the dining room being tackled by an enthusiastic Dick Grayson. 

"You're alive!" If Dick were a girl, Lex would've called it squealing. 

"It's nice to feel wanted, for once," he replied with a genuine smile, hugging the younger man in return. 

"I'm going to kill Bruce for not telling me until this morning," Dick swore, finally letting go of Lex and sitting back down at the table.

"Speaking of which, where's tall, dark and broody?" Lex inquired before settling down opposite Dick. He grabbed what appeared to be a custard apple pastry and bit into it. 

"Someone at the office screwed up big time and he had to go in early for damage control," Dick replied, working his way through his own breakfast. "He should be back in a few hours." 

Lex finished the pastry in record time, finally realizing how hungry he actually was, but before he could reach for more, Alfred entered with a tray in his hands and set a plate down in front of him. Eggs, sausages, hash browns, and toasted English muffins with the butter still melting on top. 

"Alfred, I could just kiss you right now," Lex smiled up at the butler.

"That will not be necessary, Master Lex." Alfred cleared his throat before replying. "Enjoy your breakfast." 

And for once, Lex did exactly as he was instructed.

**Chapter 8: Suspect**

Lex was sitting in front of the Batcave's consoles, staring at a computer-generated image of chemical molecules, when Bruce returned. 

"What are you looking at?" 

"I'm surprised you don't recognize it. This is one half of the residue compound that was left on the fragments," Lex replied, still staring at the screen. "Superman was kind enough to send the results of his analysis along. This – " He tapped a few keys on the computer and the v-shaped string of molecules was replaced by another string of molecules, this time in a ring. " – is the other half of it. They are highly volatile by themselves, but when combined... Well, from the damage done to the LuthorCorp tower, you can see for yourself what they're capable of." 

"Still doesn't tell me what they are," Bruce replied, standing behind Lex and looking at the screen from over his shoulder. "Doesn't look like any of the explosives I've seen."

"Because it isn't. Normal nitrogen molecules in the air are called N2, with two nitrogen atoms linked together. Your run of the mill explosives would normally be created from a mixture of metal atoms with a series of three nitrogen atoms, N3 if you will. This," Lex said, calling up the first image again, "is N5+. A series of two positively charged N2 molecules linked together with another nitrogen-atom bridge in the middle, and this," Lex switched the image again, "is N5-. A ring of five linked, negatively charged nitrogen atoms. And together – " He tapped a few keys on the computer and the two images combined to form a third, more complicated, image of linked atoms. " - they form N5+N5-. Scientists haven't been able to synthesize this until a couple years ago, and they're now slowly replacing hydrazine as the preferred rocket propellants for NASA, due to the sheer amount of energy they're capable of producing."

"And this is what was used in the explosive?" 

"Yeah, they blew my place up with rocket fuel," Lex commented wryly. It wasn't what he had in mind a month ago, when he briefly entertained the notion of stocking his bar up with a variation of that particular substance. 

"This should narrow down our list considerably," Bruce commented. "I don't think many people could get their hands on something like this." 

"No, most couldn't." In fact, Lex had a feeling he knew exactly who was responsible. "Access to this compound is highly restricted. LuthorCorp has a lab in Florida with a government contract produce it. Other than that, only the Air Force Research Labs are authorized to handle them." 

"I take it you already have someone in mind?"

"We'll need to do some more digging in order to back things up, but yes. I think I know who's behind it."

* * *

"Cross reference the compound to the list of names Batman sent. Who might have access to the chemical?" Clark demanded, pacing back and forth in the Fortress control room. He was thankful that the A.I. accepted voice command; he was too restless to sit in front of a computer.

"Cross referencing complete," the A.I. announced moments later." Joseph Byner, Deputy Mayor of Metropolis, and Alexis Vella, ring leader of the largest black market arms dealers in the United States."

"Deputy Mayor Byner?" How the hell had Byner got onto the list? As far as Clark knew, the man was clean as a whistle, not even a speeding ticket on his record. "Are you sure?" he asked the A.I., but of course it was sure.

"Affirmative." Maybe Batman had made a mistake? Other than scanning the post for any message regarding Lex, Clark hadn't paid much attention to the list of names. 

"What's his connection to the explosive?" Clark stopped pacing, looking at the large center display screen, Byner and Vella's pictures, each taking up half of the screen.

"Joseph Byner's older brother is Air Force General James Nathan Byner, who is in charge of the Air Force Research Base in California. The Byner brothers have always maintained a close relationship and General Byner has full access to the compound on the base." 

"What's the connection between LuthorCorp and the Byner's?" 

"Joseph Byner approved LuthorCorp's construction of Met5 power plant in the outskirts of Metropolis in 2011." 

Clark frowned. "That doesn't explain why he would try to kill Lex." 

"It does not. However, you have limited your inquiry to the list Batman sent, which is based on the assumption that Batman is right." Clark almost forgot that his A.I. was suffering from a superiority complex. He couldn't help wondering if there were therapists for computers. 

"How about Vella's connection to the Luthors?" 

"Both Luthors have had extensive dealings with Vella over the years, acquiring various weaponries in their effort to thwart Superman. Shall I list the details?"

"No." He knew the details. "So, unless there's something Batman hasn't told us about, Vella would be the most likely suspect."

"Agreed." 

"But if there isn't any obvious connection between the Luthors and Byner, why is Byner on the list in the first place?" Clark had started pacing again. "Unless there **is** a connection that we don't know about. Lois had always said that he's too clean to be in politics," he finally concluded. "Start looking for any links between either of the Byners to the Luthors. In the meantime, analyze Lex's past behavior patterns and let me know who he would turn to if he had survived the explosion."

"Commencing search and analysis," the A.I. responded. "Analysis completed. Lionel Luthor and Bruce Wayne are the only likely people Lex Luthor would turn to." 

At the announcement of Bruce Wayne's name, Clark once again stopped his rapid pacing. Bruce would tell him if he had heard from Lex, right? The other man had promised him... "That son of a... " Clark cursed. Batman had only agreed to inform him if he found anything, and he so far had kept his promise by sending Clark the list of suspects. If Lex was the one who turned up looking for Bruce, technically, Batman hadn't found anything. "I'm heading over to Gotham. Send anything you find to my email," Clark informed the A.I. before changing into his Superman costume and taking flight. 

* * * 

"He's convinced you're alive." Lex blinked at the non sequitur, looking up from the computer screen to stare at Bruce. 

"Who?"

"Clark."

"I see. And what has that got to do with anything?" 

"What you do with the information is up to you," said Bruce before he focused his attention back to the task at hand: hacking into the Air Force computers.

Lex didn't reply, choosing instead to continue putting together all the information he had on Joe Byner. However, the exasperating part of his brain that he still hadn't figured out how to silence, was nagging at him to find out more about Bruce's sudden announcement – he gave in. "Was he convinced because he wanted to be the one who gets rid of me or...." 

Lex wasn't sure what the other option was. After what they'd done to each other in the past, could Clark actually be... No, there was no point going down that road. Even if they could leave the fighting behind them, it was impossible for things to go back to the way they were in Smallville. Lex could never trust the younger man again. 

"You will have to ask him yourself." 

Before Lex could respond, one of the buttons next to Bruce's workstation started blinking. Bruce hit the button and the voice of Robin flooded the underground chambers through the hidden speakers. Lex wondered why he wasn't using the video link. 

"Batman?"

"What is it?" 

"Superman's here. He's looking for you." 

Question answered, and God bless Dick Grayson for his discretion. 

"What's your present location?" 

"I – " Robin never got to finish his sentence.

"Where is he?" The unmistakable voice of Superman, Clark Kent, came over the speakers.

"Who?"

"You know who," Superman snapped, completely out of character for the superhero, but not unheard of in Clark Kent. Lex wondered what was it about him that had the ability to make superheroes act out of character. If he could find a way to bottle it, he would be rich. _Well, richer_ , he corrected himself. 

"There was no way he could've survived the blast," Bruce replied, looking at Lex from the corner of his eye.

"I know him. There's no way he could have **not** survived the blast." It wasn't the voice of someone who wanted to destroy Lex by his own hands; instead, it was someone who had faith in Lex's ability to survive. 

"What is your present location?" Bruce repeated his question. 

"In an alley along Queens Road. There's no one around," Robin replied. 

Bruce looked at Lex. Right, it was up to him. His call, his decision. He didn't want to make it; status quo was a safe place. But Lex Luthor had never played anything safe, had he? Before he could grasp what he was doing, his hand was already on the video link switch. 

The larger than life image of Robin and Superman blinked into existence on the central screen in front of the two businessmen. 

Superman's eyes widened in surprise before he fixed his gaze on Lex, a grin slowly appearing on his face. "I knew it!" Lex's only reply was a raised eyebrow. "I knew it! I **knew** it!" Superman was behaving less like a superhero and more like... the boy who had dragged him to watch Harry Potter. Lex pushed away the memory; it was neither the time nor place to examine his feelings. When Lex turned and saw Bruce's stunned expression, he knew he wasn't the only one who'd noticed the change in Superman's mannerism. "Wait a minute, are you in the **Batcave** ?!" Bruce dropped the stunned look and opted for chuckling at Superman's reaction while Robin groaned in the background.

**Chapter 9: Tempest**

"You're not going." Batman's tone was final.

"Right, and what are you going to do? Pulverize him?" But Clark knew Lex had never been one to back down from a challenge, especially against superheroes.

"Guys, care to explain what's going on?" Robin asked. Robin and Clark had just arrived, only to find Bruce in his Batman costume and Lex blocking his way. 

"We know who's responsible," Batman answered Robin, still glowering over Lex who was showing no indication he'd even noticed their arrival. 

"And you know my plan would work," Lex insisted, scowling right back at Batman. "It sure as hell has a higher rate of success than you bursting in and terrorizing him. Knowing Byner, he'd make you look like the scum of the universe before slapping you with a restraining order." 

It seemed Lois was right about Byner after all. 

"Let him."

"Metropolis is **my** city," Lex hissed. "You can't fight my battles for me." Lex's voice had gotten quieter as he spoke, but with his super-hearing and the acoustics of the cave, Clark didn't have trouble picking up what was said.

"Care to shed some light on the details?" he finally asked. Batman was planning on storming in on Byner, that much he had gathered, but what was Lex's plan?

"None of your business," Lex retorted, finally acknowledging his existence, before once again turning his attention back to Batman. Clark found his sense of relief at finding Lex alive being replaced by anger at the almost casual dismissal. 

"In case you haven't noticed, Metropolis is my city. I was the one saving it day in, day out, when you were trying to destroy it," he snapped at the bald billionaire, earning him a glare that would've turned him into ExtraCrispy-Superman if Lex had heat vision.

"And I repeat, care to explain what's going on?" Robin sounded exasperated. 

"Your partner here seems to think that he can scare Byner into compliance," Lex replied, focusing his attention on Robin for a moment before turning back to face Batman. 

"You have a better idea?" Robin asked. 

"Yes."

"Suicidal is more like it," Batman objected.

"It's my life." 

"And my city," Clark added. Lex turned to him again, eyes narrowing in a familiar look of distaste before addressing Batman again.

"Fine, you can storm his castle if my plan doesn't work out, which it will," Lex offered as a compromise. Clark wasn't expecting Batman to agree.

* * *

Batman was right, even with three superheroes as backup, Lex's plan was going to get him killed. Yet, there they were, Batman and Robin in the carefully hidden Batmobile in the middle of nowhere, five miles away from Lex, monitoring and recording everything Lex did via a micro-transmitter on Lex. 

Clark hovered just out of sight among the clouds, listening in and making sure everything would go as planned. 

Lex hadn't really bothered explaining his plans until he had set things in motion by calling Byner at his office, arranging a meeting at an abandoned corn factory merely forty minutes out of Smallville, of all places. 

The sound of an approaching car drew Clark's attention. Scanning with his x-ray vision, he saw a blue Ford driving up towards the factory. There were four sets of skeletons in the car. It really shouldn't surprise him that Byner had broken his promise to turn up alone. 

* * *

Gray sweaters. Lex hadn't worn gray sweaters outside his gym since... He didn't think he'd ever worn them outside of the gym. Too bad turning up in Versace would blow his cover... The silk would have felt nice. On the plus side, the sweaters were warm. 

Lex sat on a dusty metal bench, facing the entrance, resisting the urge to get down and pace. Instead, he swung his legs back and forth, like he had when he was a child, emanating an air of indifference that he didn't feel. Byner was expecting anger, tension even hostility, not this. Giving him the unexpected was part of Lex's strategy to disconcert Byner.

_"It has got to stop, Lex." Bruce had cornered him during their preparation._

_"What?"_

_"This thing between you and Clark. It's been going on long enough."_

_"He's the one, who's not leaving me alone," Lex replied, doing a last minute check on the various equipment._

_"And you think leaving you alone is going to solve everything?"_

_"Yes."_

_"It's not going to. All that's going to do is make things worse. Like an open wound, it'll get infected and, eventually, rot." Bruce began putting the various gadgets into a black carry bag. " You're not as blameless as you might think. If you were in his shoes, what would you have done? Think about it, Lex." The zipper closing sounded extraordinarily loud to Lex's ears._

Lex snapped out of his thoughts, tensing when he heard a car approaching. He forced himself to relax. He checked his nails offhandedly before looking up as the doors squeaked opened. 

Joe Byner, 5' 7", hair slicked back in a way that was fashionable when his father was a child during the 1950s, was wearing a blue suit that didn't seem to fit his frame. The three goons that followed behind him looked better than the Deputy Mayor ever would. Lex didn't bother pretending to be surprise by their presence. 

"Welcome to my humble abode," Lex greeted with a smile and a mock bow, right arm extended, his legs still swinging in a childish, playful way. He silently congratulated himself when he saw Byner's dumbfounded look at his appearance and atypical behavior. "Not quite what I'm used to, but it'll have to do for now." He winked at the Deputy Mayor just for the heck of it.

"What do you want?" Byner asked after recovering from the shock. 

"The question, Deputy Mayor Byner, is what do you want." Lex stopped swinging his legs and became serious. 

"What I want is pretty simple, Luthor. If you had been considerate enough to stay in bed on Sunday night like everyone else did, I would've gotten it," Byner spat. 

Lex couldn't help thinking that Byner was just too easy; it wasn't even vaguely stimulating. Lex was seriously considering it an insult for him to even be there. _Man's an idiot, what the hell did Dad ever see in him?_ On the other hand, this was also the man who had almost vaporized him. Thank God for insomnia. "That's the beauty of it, Byner. I'm not like everyone else."

Byner snorted. "You think you can just talk me into giving up? Offer me some deal that I can't refuse?"

"No. You wouldn't risk having me around. I would make your life hell," Lex admitted casually, smirking at the various possibilities that were running through his mind even as they spoke. He had pitted his wits against Superman for the last eight years; Byner wouldn't be much of a challenge.

"You got that right, Luthor, which is why I think you're stupid for setting up this meeting and coming alone." Lex saw Byner waved his right hand and his muscles coiled in preparation. "Shoot him." 

Lex swung about, ducking off the bench even before Byner finished uttering his order, using the bench as a shield against the bullets. Within a couple of seconds, the blasts of gunfire ceased and the only sound in the abandoned factory was the groaning of Byner's men. 

Emerging from his shelter, Lex saw Superman standing over the three hog-tied goons, with Byner cowering in front of the superhero. Lex walked up and stood beside Superman, looking down at the soon to be former-deputy mayor. 

"Who said I came alone?" 

**Chapter 10: Resurrection**

Lex was gone by the time Clark made it back to the Batcave after delivering Byner and friends, along with a recording of Byner's admission, to the police. Bruce Wayne, sitting in front of one of the many control panels around the cave, sans costume, seemed oblivious to his arrival. 

"Why didn't you tell me he was alive?" was the first thing Clark said to Bruce.

"He didn't want anyone to know." Bruce didn't even bother looking up from what he was doing. "It was also his decision to initiate the video link." Bruce had stopped fiddling with the controls, but it annoyed Clark to no end that he was still staring at Bruce's back while they spoke. 

"How long has he known about Batman?" 

Bruce finally turned around to face him. 

"About seven years." 

It was almost as long as Lex and Clark had been enemies. Bruce had trusted Lex enough to tell him, and Clark, Lex's supposed best friend, hadn't. The guilt he used to feel at lying to Lex was back, worse than ever. Years worth of lies... it wasn't something the simple 'I'm sorry' he had uttered months ago could absolve. 

"Where – "

"Elevator to your left. I'm sure you can find your way around after that." 

Clark nodded and followed the directions. 

"Kent." He turned at the sound of his name. "Hurt him, and you'll have Batman and Robin to deal with." It was a warning that Clark had no problem believing. 

The elevator ride was surprisingly short, but it was enough time for him to get rid of Superman's costume. Before long, Clark found himself in a library, not unlike the one at the Luthor manor in Smallville. Only the fire from the fireplace lit the room and he could see the silhouette of Lex sitting in front of the flames.

He stared at the profile of Lex sitting on the couch. It was almost like he was fifteen again, barging in on Lex for some favor, asking the other man to advise on one thing or another. Back then, Lex had always been happy to see him.

"Plan to move anytime soon?" Clark was startled when Lex finally spoke. There had been no indication that the other man even knew he was in the room, much less what he had been doing. 

"Why bother helping me? Shouldn't you be cheering at my ultimate demise?" Lex asked when Clark didn't answer, his voice tinged with slight curiosity.

"Two other people were killed in the explosion. It was my duty to expose Byner." The answer came to Clark automatically. It was his duty as Superman to ensure the perpetrators were brought to justice.

"How did you know I wasn't dead?" Lex asked again, still speaking at the fire.

"I... " It was a good question. How **did** he know? "I just knew." There had never been any doubt in his heart that Lex was alive. 

Lex didn't reply. In the silence, the crackling firewood was the only sound in the room. 

It suddenly dawned on him: the number of times Lex had helped him when it clearly wasn't in his best interest to do so, their friendship's silent death at the appearance of Superman; Lex's rage and hostility against Superman. Lex was in love with him, had done so much for him. All Clark ever gave in return were lies and more lies, and he dared call himself Lex's best friend. _It's not like he's been entirely honest with you in the first place,_ a voice that sounded a lot like Jonathan Kent's resonated at the back of his mind. 

"I'm sorry," Clark blurted out, unable to stand the silence any longer. He wasn't quite sure what he was apologizing for, he just knew he didn't feel... right about this situation.

"So you have said." Even sitting before the fire, Lex's voice was cold. Clark wished he could see Lex's expression, but his feet seemed to be glued to the ground and Lex wasn't showing any signs of getting up.

"Is that why you helped? So I can be alive to forgive you?" Lex's voice sounded tight. Clark froze at the tone, unsure as to how to go about fixing things between them. Should he leave? Never see Lex again, just like Lex had wanted him to? It was the easiest thing to do. They would just stay out of each other's way in the future....

But there was a fifteen year old in him who wanted his best friend back, who had missed the older man's presence in his life, and that was the part of him that was screaming at him to do **something** _._ His anger at Lois and Batman when they didn't believe Lex was alive, at last, made sense.

"No!" He knew his protest came out too strong, too fast. Was there truth to what Lex said? Was it why he had helped? No, he had helped because... because he couldn't stand the thought of Lex not being in his life anymore, even if the other man was trying to kill him. 

Only, Lex had never really wanted to kill him. 

One of them was going to have to make the first move, to end the acrimony that had plagued them for nearly a decade. Clark bit his lips. Looking at the back of Lex's head from across the room, he finally realized this was it.

* * *

The sudden flicker of the fire was Lex' only warning before he came face to face with Clark. Dressed in red flannel and jeans, no glasses, hair wind-swept, Lex could almost believe they'd managed to turn back time to when nothing, not even the lies, had been able to separate them. 

Without warning, Clark sank down to his knees in front of him, looking up at him with eyes filled with regret and grief. 

This was what Lex had wanted, wasn't it? The all mighty Superman, Savior of the World, on his knees before him. He had finally accomplished what he had set out to do so many years ago. Yet, he felt no joy at the sight. 

"I'm sorry." No excuse, no explanations. Lex realized this was probably the first time since they met that Clark had been completely honest with him. 

"I'm sorry," Clark repeated when Lex didn't speak. 

"I trusted you." He wanted so much to hate Clark, and for a while in the past, he did. Almost. _Hate would bleed you dry of any life you may have. You'd die on the inside and take the world with you, Lex._ Closing his eyes, Lex took a deep breath. His lessons may have been learned from his father, but he was also his mother's son. 

"I'm sorry." It was barely above a whisper this time, but Lex heard it. Opening his eyes, he looked down at Clark, finally letting his mask slip, showing Clark the heartache he had felt in the last eight years. "Lex." So much anguish in the one syllable of his name. 

His left hand reached out, as though of its own accord, and brushed against Clark's face. Before he realized it, Lex was off the couch and on the floor with Clark. 

"I'm so sorry." He could feel Clark's breath on his face even as he looked into the familiar green eyes. 

"Me too." A repeat of their earlier performance, only this time, Lex was apologizing. "I thought I hated you. I **wanted** to hate you," he hissed, grabbing Clark's head with both his hands and looking straight into the other man's eyes. "It'd be so simple if I could hate you, but I can't." He loosened his grip and let his hands fall, only to feel Clark catching them. 

"I can forgive you, Clark." He tightened his hold on Clark's hands. "I... a friend made me realize my record in the honesty department hasn't been exceptional either." 

Lex let out a bitter laugh. Bruce was right; if he had been in Clark's shoes, he probably wouldn't have been as forthcoming as Clark had been. Duplicity in the quest for truth had never been a good plan; he should've been smart enough to figure that out sooner. "But I don't know if I can ever bring myself to trust you." It was true that he'd done his share of lying, but it didn't change the fact that trust wasn't something that came easy to Lex, and Clark had been lying to him for a long time. 

"Lex, please." Lex could hear the desperation in Clark's voice and see it on his face. "One last chance. You said our friendship was going to be the stuff of legends, and I want things to be right again. After every thing we've been through, I'm not going to give up now. Please, Lex, I... I don't think I can stand losing you again."

He wasn't sure if Clark was referring to their friendship or his rumored death, but did it matter? Could he risk giving Clark another chance? Lex lowered his head, eyes seeing their linked palms. 

"Give **us** one last chance," Clark pleaded. Looking up again, he saw Clark's eyes begging him, and Lex felt something inside him give. Maybe his love for the younger man was stronger than he knew. Maybe this was his second chance, his redemption – **their** redemption; the phoenix rising from the ashes that was once their friendship. 

"Don't make me hate you." 

When Clark pulled him into an embrace, Lex felt a sense of peace that had been eluding him since the day a fifteen-year-old boy had brought him back to life. 

**Epilogue: Phoenix**

_DISGRACED FORMER DEPUTY-MAYOR FOUND DEAD_

_Friday August 29, 2014_

_Clark Kent_

**_METROPOLIS_ ** _Former Deputy-Mayor Joseph Byner was found dead in his cell early this morning. The death has been ruled a suicide. Byner had apparently slit his wrists with a makeshift knife constructed from sharpening the edge of a spoon. A suicide note was found in his cell, but police are refusing to disclose it due to respect for Byner's family._

_After an accelerated trial process two months ago, Byner was convicted for the attempted murder of Metropolis businessman Lex Luthor. Byner was arrested shortly after Superman had personally brought Byner and three of his associates into custody after a second attempt on Luthor's life. Evidence of his involvement in the LuthorCorp Tower I explosion was delivered to the police by Superman merely days after the incident last March. Byner's older brother, Air Force General James N. Byner was also implicated in the evidence Superman delivered. The Air Force is conducting their own inquiry into the matter._

_During his trial, the former Deputy Mayor also implicated the Luthors in a series of underhanded dealings with City Hall. In a shocking statement, Lex Luthor admitted to Byner's claim. However, the CEO of LuthorCorp claimed the backhanded agreements had been made while Lionel Luthor was at the helm of the company. "It was why Byner tried to kill me," the younger Luthor declared. "When I took over LuthorCorp, I started cleaning up the mess my father left behind. Byner was one of them." Lex Luthor has been cleared of any misconduct while authorities are currently investigating Lionel Luthor for a series of corporate wrongdoings dating back thirty years._

_Byner is survived by his wife, Margaret Ellison Byner, 57, his son Jonathan Byner, 28, and twin daughters, Melissa and Elizabeth Byner, 25._

Clark printed the piece out and handed it over to Lois. "Can you run this over to Perry for me? I'm running really late. This should be the final draft. He shouldn't want any more tweaking." He rushed back to his cubicle and started packing up. 

"Where are you rushing off to?" 

"Dinner," Clark replied, shoving a folder full of paper into his briefcase. Lex was going to kill him if he didn't turn up within the next fifteen minutes. 

"Oh my God! You have a date!" He winced at Lois' squeal. Sometimes, having super-hearing really wasn't worth it. Half of the newsroom had turned their attention towards him and Clark felt his face burning up in embarrassment, which only served to confirm Lois' speculation. 

"Why don't you just put out a front page ad while you're at it?" He glared at his partner.

"So, who's the unfortunate lady?" The other half of the newsroom thought it would be a good time to join in on the eavesdropping too.

Clicking his briefcase shut, he hurriedly made his way towards the elevators, Lois hot on his heels. "Come on, Clark!"

There was no way in hell Clark was going to tell any of them he was having dinner with Lex Luthor. He and Lex had been taking things slow since that night at Bruce's mansion, rebuilding the friendship they had shared before. If the press ever caught wind of their association, the delicate balance they seemed to have reached would be shattered.

In the last few months, Clark had discovered that Lex was still in love with him and he was surprised to find himself amenable to the idea, remembering the serious case of hero worship he had for Lex when he was younger. Thinking back, it was highly possible that it wasn't just purely hero worship.

He had hinted to Lex that he knew about Lex's feelings for him, but the billionaire hadn't done anything and after what they've been through and Lex's numerous failed marriages, he didn't blame Lex for being overly cautious. Clark had finally gathered enough courage to ask Lex out two days ago, and to his amazement, the other man had said yes.

_"Let's have dinner on Friday," Clark suggested casually in Lex's home office while the older man shuffled through a stack of files on his desk._

_"This Friday?"_

_"Yeah."_

_"I don't think I have anything on my schedule this Friday, sure." Finding the file he wanted, Lex stacked it on top of the pile and opened it, flipping through the pages._

_"It's a date, then."_

_Lex stopped flipping and turned his complete attention towards Clark. "Date?"_

_"You are familiar with the concept of dating, aren't you?" Clark's palms were sweating._

_"Yes, I'm familiar with the concept," Lex retorted. "I was merely clarifying whether you were asking me out on an official date or just the standard dinner."_

_"It's a date. I'll even make the reservations."_

_"Okay."_

And Lex had returned to muttering about incompetent filing clerks after that.

Clark was distracted from his thoughts by Lois' demanding whine. "Clark!"

"Sorry, Lois, not even the threat of death would make me tell you." Clark hit the down button, and almost immediately, the elevator to his left let out a 'ding'.

Lois was about to follow him when a resounding, "Lane! Olsen!" boomed through the newsroom. Perry White was on the hunt.

Clark smirked at Lois through the closing elevator doors. "Better hurry before he decides to bump you off the front page." His last sight was of the female reporter stomping off in a huff.

THE END


End file.
